MrBeast is currently the most-subscribed YouTuber in the world—but his biggest moneymaker isn’t content. It’s chocolate.
The 26-year-old creator, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, owns the snack brand Feastables, which generated $251 million in sales and more than $20 million in profit last year, according to investor documents obtained by Bloomberg. By contrast, his main media business—including his blockbuster YouTube channel and the Amazon Prime reality competition show, Beast Games—brought in similar revenue but lost nearly $80 million over the same period.
With 372 million subscribers at the time of writing, MrBeast’s videos range from spending “ ">100 hours inside the pyramids” to helping “ ">2,000 people walk again.” As you might imagine, content of that sort doesn’t come cheap. The average video for MrBeast’s main channel now costs between $3 million and $4 million, according to Bloomberg.
Recouping such extravagant production budgets is no easy task, especially with only a few videos released per month. Little surprise, then, that the YouTube star has spent the past few years leveraging his fame to build businesses that have nothing to do with the social media platforms he started out on.
Now, the most profitable arm of Beast Industries is its commerce division, led by the chocolate brand Feastables. According to Bloomberg, the company forecasts that Feastables will triple in size over the next couple of years, while media revenue will only account for one-fifth of its total sales by 2026. (MrBeast did not respond to Fast Company’s request for comment.)
As well as Feastables, Beast Industries is also a shareholder in the snack brand Lunchly and owns Viewstats, a software firm that sells digital tools to fellow content creators. As reported by Bloomberg, Beast Industries has secured more than $450 million in funding over the past four years to fuel its businesses. In recent months, MrBeast has been in talks with investors to raise an additional $200 million, which would push the company’s valuation past $5 billion, The Verge reported last week.
Investors backing Beast Industries’s $5 billion valuation are betting on a future driven by consumer products rather than viral videos. Beyond Feastables, MrBeast is gearing up to launch a range of new products in the coming years, including beverages, a snack brand, and a cereal line. He’s also set to expand into mobile gaming, with a division expected to debut next year.
This reflects a broader monetization shift in the creator economy, where major social media stars are pivoting from content to consumer products. Last year, popular podcast host Alex Cooper launched her drink brand, Unwell, while YouTuber-turned-podcaster Emma Chamberlain opened her first ever café in Los Angeles for her coffee brand, Chamberlain Coffee. Logan Paul, another early YouTube star, cofounded Prime energy drink and teamed up with MrBeast on Lunchly. Turns out, selling your brand as a chocolate bar or a beverage might be the real jackpot.
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